Tuesday 19 laps

33:30 minutes, 30:60 sec run/walk ratio

After running three miles on Saturday, then doing 15–20 minutes of prostrations at the Zen Center Sunday, then working five hours on the porch screens yesterday, I was pretty low energy today, and my shins were still sore. So I set out to take it easy on today's run, but still did a decent time. I went out at 9 am and it was already getting a bit hot; it wasn't a big problem, but I'd probably do better if I tried to get out by 8 am, especially as it's not even really hot yet this year.

I've been thinking about how I'm going to coordinate morning runs with morning Buddhist practice, and it occurred to me that I could just do my practice while running on alternate mornings, instead of sitting in front of my altar. I could load the Heart Sutra, or whatever sutra I'm working on, on my iPod, along with some Kwan Seum Bosal chanting, maybe listen to more of Pema Chodron's book for a Dharma talk, or empty my mind and meditate while I'm running and walking around the house.

I charted out my long runs with the Honolulu Marathon as a goal, and it works out pretty well, except that I've got my 23-mile run the weekend of Yaoi-con. This actually might be an advantage—I could go do my run in Golden Gate Park, where it's beautiful and the weather's nice and there are bathrooms and water fountains readily available. The disadvantage is having to leave my roommate to her own devices for the entire day while I'm off running, but I don't really care about the con, so if she doesn't mind it wouldn't really be a problem.

We'll see. I still haven't settled on Honolulu. The expense and hassle of flying to Hawaii might be a deal-breaker this year. The 2009 Las Vegas Marathon doesn't appear to have been scheduled yet, but it's generally also in December, so it might be a good alternative.